Today was a good example of why I pushed my LSAT back to December. I have been absolutely slammed at work. Stayed till 10PM last night, and barely had the energy to read half a chapter of the RCB. I hope to read a little more of it today and then do some logic games tonight.

Like hallbd says, I find that redoing old LGs is helpful, in that you develop your skills and confidence. I've definitely gotten better at them. Sure, you could say I've done them before, but it was so long ago that I have no idea of the answers or anything. It just teaches me how to faster approach certain types of games, and that skill can be applied to similar but new games.

2 Day UpdateRC- Like the mindset that the MRC guide has provided. Reading like a lawyer, is always balancing two arguments as you read. Knew this before, but the drilling is helpful.

LG-finished round 2 of grouping games 10-39 and read LGB hybird games and started drilling. Feeling ok, need to always attempt to make inferences when number restrictions are present. This is the biggest way to ensure a ultra fast game, and if I get one breakthrough inferends in a PT then I can get. 5-6 min game.

LR- almost done with LRB, just point at issue left. Need to get better at reading the stimulus and ACs. Miss too many points because of surface reading on easier problems because I missed a detail. I think truly crossing out ACs might help and making sure I identify the subject, verb, and scope/logical force of each argument- My LR regressed from -6 total a few weeks ago to around -10 now... Waiting for the studying to synthesize, soak in and for the scores to improve (like Cal girl). Question I was planning on starting MLR this week, would it be better to wait a week to let everything else settle in?

@Clarity: Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I should completely abstain from practicing. Even if I decide not to retake, the practicing will still be worth it.

@hallbd16: I wouldn't wait for it all to "sink in." If you must, you can give yourself a day or so, but the brain is surprisingly quick at appropriating knowledge.

@echamberlin8: I don't have the manhattan RC guide, however, I have been contemplating whether or not to get one of those guides. If it's all common sense so far, I'm not sure if I should buy it :/.

I mostly picked my experimental sections from the earlier PT's (10-20, 20-30, 30-40, etc.). In this way, the closer that I got to the test, the more updated my "experimental sections" would be. When practicing for the LSAT, it makes sense to expose yourself, as much as possible, to all of the potential questions.

@ready4180: It depends on what you are trying to improve. Are you just trying to get the fundamentals down (linear, advanced linear, grouping, hybrid)? If that's the case, I would do things untimed. If you are trying to improve your overall performance with the AR section, I would be taking full sections. In either case, if you aren't getting -0 or -1 per a section of untimed work, then I would suggest drilling the individual problems without time.

TL;DR: start with untimed problems, and then, once you have a solid foundation, move on to doing timed sections.

Took SuperPrep A today (I know I should have taken it earlier, but just got in the mail this week. 84 raw= 164. After going through and redoing/grading myself without using answer sheet it was a 174. Heavy review on the problems I missed a second time around b/c I know those aren't b/c of my ability to reason in a timed circumstance but are conceptual misunderstandings

I don't know if anyone else notices this, but my scores get progressively worse as the test progresses. I can feel my lack of mental energy as well as I am getting further along in the test. How have others dealt with this? Hoping regularly studying for 4+ hours will take care of this, but after 1+ months, this is still an issue. I will say that having strategies in LR to fall back on is helpful when I am not firing at full strength

LR 1 (-4)LR 2 (-5)LG (-6!!!!) NO. Not acceptable. Need to make sure that this is a -0. Way off from that. Need to drill grouping games heavy this week emphasizing using numerical restrictions to guide the game if possible.RC- (-2) Felt good. Of course I always range from -0 to -6, so not sure if this is consistent or not. I did tackle all main point questions at the end of the section, and this helped make sure I didn't miss these. I had been missing these eariler, which really should be gimme questions if I am reading the passage.

This week (Sunday here) I am starting Manhattan LR and need to drill heavy to make sure my LG is going to be at -0. Surprised that I have had 2 weeks of bad LG sections. I had gone -0 with one -1 for about a month straight, then the last couple weeks have been rough on LG sections. Chin up and drill through it.

@ready- Why not do as much LG drilling as you time allows. Many TLSers say it is the 'easiest' section to drill yourself to a -0 to. I would agree with the statement, even with my recent struggles. I followed Pithypike's schedule and try to drill at least 6 games a day (either new or repeat depending on where I am at). As Sumstalwart said, it depends where you are in your studies. If you haven't checked out Pithy's schedule, do so:viewtopic.php?f=6&t=41657

@SumStalwart- I find the RC guides to be useful in that they provide a structured study place for me to drill and determine the best RC strategies for me. The Manhattan one has had a few solid points along the way. As you know it is about fine-tuning your strategy. I like that the book gives me drilling opportunities after reading suggestions. Potential gains probably make it worth checking out. For example it helped me mentally decide how I am going to frame my reading even though its advice was broad. But then again I was consciously thinking about that as I was drilling. I assume you could do the same with TLS advice and your own passages to drill with. But then again, the potential gains might be worth it...

@echamberlin

The LGB just tells you to flip and negate each of the variables, like you would for a normal contrapositive, but in addition to that, you also change "OR" to "AND," and vice versa. However, in the Manhattan LG book, it lists 4 different kinds of compound-conditionals, according to which side of the arrow the compound-variable is on, and which side of the arrow "AND" or "OR" are on. I found their method a bit confusing, since I read through the LGB first, and I was used to just finding the contrapositive and changing "OR" to "AND" (or vice versa). Anyone have any thoughts on this? Do I really have to memorize the four different kinds of compound-conditionals that the ManLG book details?

I think you just gotta get through this. And not just to the point where you can work it out on paper ok. Repeated practice so that when it comes up it is automatic and seamless. The way I got to this point is by thoroughly reviewing these types of problems after coming across them in LR/LG. Even creating related hypotheticals when reviewing

TO ALLTIME IS CREEPING UP ON US. Time to double down on our efforts. Think Big, plan big, act big, perform big.

I started studying in September. I currently study for around 4 or 5 hours a day during the week, typically a bit longer on the weekend.I try to complete 40-50 lr questions assorted by type ( I'm following pithypike's guide.) 5 lg and a rc section per day. I generally get roughly 80% accuracy on lr, -0, -1 on a lg, and -5 or so on a rc section. I've heard/seen the 80/20 rule, but I'm not especially happy with the rate of progress. Does anyone else have the same sense of frustration as I do? I'm generally one that needs to have things fixed/improved immediately and this process is just taking its toll on my mindset.

Thanks for the replies! Today I'm finishing up PS LGBible. I'm getting -0/-1 on most drills I do EXCEPT for the Grouping games. Some I can't even wrap my head around and take forever to figure out a diagram.

Tomorrow I'm going to take a PrepTest and continue drilling LG. I just got the Manhattan Guide so I'm going to drill from that!

@xmI feel your frustration. I initially had great improvement, starting at 160 then going up to 169 over the course of a month. Then I regressed and am just stabilizing our around 165 right now. A mental thing that has helped me keep working hard through the challenges is taking on the underdog mentality/ LSAT is the evil foe. When I go for runs I actually visualize beating up a man named LSAT and remind myself I am doing this to make sure I don't come out of law school 250k in debt. Not that you should do the same, but make sure you keep/find that motivation. Keep working hard because it will pay off.

Daily update LR- manhattan LR on assumptions. Good to drill and refocus on argument core. Seems like a great strategy to maximize my time in the LR sections

Ugh, me not posting in this thread is testament to my studying always being interrupted by my work. Almost every day this past week I've worked 12+-hour days, which basically means little to no studying on those days (I studied for a full hour on the night I got home at 11, which I was pretty proud of!).

Tonight I find myself at the office yet again. This is why I had to postpone the LSAT back to December, and it scares me that I won't even be fully prepared then. I plan to take a full-length (5-section) LSAT tomorrow (in particular, PT 51, which I think is the first one in the last book of ten real LSATs). It's probably going to show a lack of practice, but that will be the first 5-section test I've ever taken.

Haven't been able to study yet today, and I'm not sure I will have time. I really envy everyone on here who has the time to study for like 3+ hours a day. (And by envy, I mean I'm bitter at, haha.) Do you ever get the feeling that a lot of people on here have like HUGE amounts of time to study? How can they afford that?

echamberlin8 wrote:Ugh, me not posting in this thread is testament to my studying always being interrupted by my work. Almost every day this past week I've worked 12+-hour days, which basically means little to no studying on those days (I studied for a full hour on the night I got home at 11, which I was pretty proud of!).

Tonight I find myself at the office yet again. This is why I had to postpone the LSAT back to December, and it scares me that I won't even be fully prepared then. I plan to take a full-length (5-section) LSAT tomorrow (in particular, PT 51, which I think is the first one in the last book of ten real LSATs). It's probably going to show a lack of practice, but that will be the first 5-section test I've ever taken.

Haven't been able to study yet today, and I'm not sure I will have time. I really envy everyone on here who has the time to study for like 3+ hours a day. (And by envy, I mean I'm bitter at, haha.) Do you ever get the feeling that a lot of people on here have like HUGE amounts of time to study? How can they afford that?

First, welcome back! Was crickets in this place

I can tell you what I decided to do last Spring. I knew I wanted to test, but had a 70+ hour work week job. I decided to quit and come teach English in China knowing that my work week would be around ~25 hours. Not sure if that is in your cards, but you could easily get a job and do it (if not this cycle, then definitely next cycle).

But as I said on the other thread, you gotta focus about your own studies and do what you can do. Reality sucks, but you clearly are a bad ass mother f**ker who can take this to another level. DO IT

echamberlin8 wrote:Ugh, me not posting in this thread is testament to my studying always being interrupted by my work. Almost every day this past week I've worked 12+-hour days, which basically means little to no studying on those days (I studied for a full hour on the night I got home at 11, which I was pretty proud of!).

Tonight I find myself at the office yet again. This is why I had to postpone the LSAT back to December, and it scares me that I won't even be fully prepared then. I plan to take a full-length (5-section) LSAT tomorrow (in particular, PT 51, which I think is the first one in the last book of ten real LSATs). It's probably going to show a lack of practice, but that will be the first 5-section test I've ever taken.

Haven't been able to study yet today, and I'm not sure I will have time. I really envy everyone on here who has the time to study for like 3+ hours a day. (And by envy, I mean I'm bitter at, haha.) Do you ever get the feeling that a lot of people on here have like HUGE amounts of time to study? How can they afford that?

First, welcome back! Was crickets in this place

I can tell you what I decided to do last Spring. I knew I wanted to test, but had a 70+ hour work week job. I decided to quit and come teach English in China knowing that my work week would be around ~25 hours. Not sure if that is in your cards, but you could easily get a job and do it (if not this cycle, then definitely next cycle).

But as I said on the other thread, you gotta focus about your own studies and do what you can do. Reality sucks, but you clearly are a bad ass mother f**ker who can take this to another level. DO IT

Hey, hallbd. Hmm...that's a somewhat frightening prospect for me, just because I'm so used to where I live and love it, plus I work at a good law firm, so I feel like every continued year I work here adds to my application. I also have a hard time studying for more than 3 hours a day, so even if I quit my job I probably couldn't study round-the-clock anyways.

Oh well, we'll see how I do this December, and if worst comes to worst, I will apply next cycle.

BlueJeanBaby, I believe there are about 67 PTs available.

Pretty much flat-out wasn't able to study this weekend. I worked till 11pm on Friday and Saturday. Sunday I was just dead and had a bad day. Tonight I plan on taking a PT. It will probably be pretty rough, but hopefully it will assess where I'm at. I'm expecting something in the mid-160s range.

@blue jeanIn case you havent been advised elsewhere, make sure to get PTs 58-66 and 67 when it comes out. They are the absolute best practice because they are the most recent.

PT 42 (-15) 167LG (-3) poor. Two challenging question stem misreads which will only make me better for having seen and analyzed them and one sloppy mistake. Only consolation is that my diagramming was strong efficient and fastLR 1 (-4) Timed out on 2 LR 2 (-3) one real sloppy missRC (-5).

MLR strategies still feeling good. Getting closer to the next level, need to have -0 LG in the bank to guarantee it with RC flux. Seems within reach

@hallbd - I wish I could be excited about PTs...but honestly I'm scared as fuck of taking PTs , I get too emotionally invested and it seriously destroys my morale when I look at a scaled score and see I haven't improved, or worse, that I've gone down from before I've been easing into it by doing a lot of timed sections, reviewing them thoroughly, and making sure I don't add up a PTs worth and look at a scaled score...just focusing on getting better at what I've missed. I know I'm gonna have to start PTing hardcore soon but I don't want to lose motivation, I know this probably sounds pathetic I wonder if others have felt this way at one point or another

arcanecircle wrote:@hallbd - I wish I could be excited about PTs...but honestly I'm scared as fuck of taking PTs , I get too emotionally invested and it seriously destroys my morale when I look at a scaled score and see I haven't improved, or worse, that I've gone down from before I've been easing into it by doing a lot of timed sections, reviewing them thoroughly, and making sure I don't add up a PTs worth and look at a scaled score...just focusing on getting better at what I've missed. I know I'm gonna have to start PTing hardcore soon but I don't want to lose motivation, I know this probably sounds pathetic I wonder if others have felt this way at one point or another

Sounds like you're approaching it in the worst way possible. I try to approach it like it's a game, constantly trying to one up myself, it motivates me but doesn't cripple me.

Just took PT 66, although only got a 173 it gave me some confidence because I know that could had been much better if some things had gone my way. Read no less than 2 questions backwards (missed the word 'except' and somehow read the words "Should be" as "Should not be") and made several LR mistakes I can't see myself repeating regularly.

However, went -5 on a practice LR from PT 14 today, have no idea what happened there, even misbubbled one as well. Going to write that off as a fluke and move on...

CyanIdes Of March wrote:Just took PT 66, although only got a 173 it gave me some confidence because I know that could had been much better if some things had gone my way. Read no less than 2 questions backwards (missed the word 'except' and somehow read the words "Should be" as "Should not be") and made several LR mistakes I can't see myself repeating regularly.

However, went -5 on a practice LR from PT 14 today, have no idea what happened there, even misbubbled one as well. Going to write that off as a fluke and move on...

Yeah, I agree with you on ignoring PT 14, this time. Take another early one, if it happens again, then I bet there is something to analyze. While it might not be common in the 60's, if you are pushing high 170's that could be 1 critical point.

Impressive to hear a -4 is an off-day, I am just approaching that level on LR and am stoked with the improvement. MLR helped me refocus on argument core. I think that has been a big difference maker for me. How about you, were you always strutting out -4s and below on LR or did you work your way up there? Ever have any breakthroughs?

Posted on the other thread, but got a 172 on SuperPrep C today. Stoked. Even with a -4 on LG, ick.